From 15 to 24 January 2018, a delegation of 10 international experts working under the auspices of the IAEA examined the organisation of radioactive waste management in France. The experts met teams from the DGEC1, ASN, the DGPR2, IRSN, Andra, and the radioactive waste producers.

ASN informed Framatome and EDF that it considers that the steps taken at the Creusot Forge plant allow the production of components intended for French nuclear facilities to resume under certain conditions, more particularly, the surveillance of the activities.

In April 2016, Andra sent ASN the safety options file (DOS) for the Cigeo radioactive waste deep disposal project. Submission of a DOS means that the project becomes part of a process governed by the regulations concerning basic nuclear installations (BNI), more specifically by article 6 of the decree of 2 November 2007.

In 2014, the Council of the European Union adopted directive 2014/87/EURATOM on nuclear security. The main purpose of this directive, supplementing a directive of 2009, was to ensure that the licensees of nuclear facilities learned the lessons from the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) accident which occurred in 2011.

From 1 to 9 October 2017, ASN received an IAEA delegation responsible for following up the Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) international audit mission carried out in 2014, covering all activities regulated by ASN.

With the support of IRSN, ASN examined the data provided by EDF to demonstrate the seismic resistance of the Donzère-Mondragon canal embankment which protects the Tricastin NPP. ASN considers that, following the investigations and repairs carried out by EDF, the condition of the embankment allows the restart of the EDF reactors and gave its consent for the restart of reactors 2, 3 and 4.

As part of its duty of radioactivity monitoring nationwide, the French Institute for Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety (IRSN) measured the presence of ruthenium 106 in south-eastern France, between the end of September and the beginning of October 2017, albeit at very low levels, representing a few microbecquerels per cubic metre (µBq/m3). This detection led to the distribution by IRSN of several information notices on its website.

The sixth triennial review meeting of the Joint Convention on the Safety of Spent Fuel Management and on the Safety of Radioactive Waste Management (called the "Joint Convention") will take place from 21 May to 1 June 2018 at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) headquarters in Vienna.

ASN gives a level 2 rating on the INES scale to a significant safety event regarding a risk of the loss of heat sink for the reactors in the Belleville-sur-Loire, Cattenom, Chinon, Cruas, Dampierre-en-Burly, Golfech, Nogent-sur-Seine, Paluel, Saint-Alban and Saint-Laurent-des-Eaux NPPs. 29 900 MWe and 1300 MWe reactors are concerned by this event.

From 1st to 9th October 2017, ASN received an IAEA delegation responsible for follow-up to the Integrated Regulatory Review Service (IRRS) international audit mission carried out in 2014, concerning all of the activities regulated by ASN.

On 10th October 2017, ASN issued its opinion on the anomaly in the steel used for the Flamanville EPR reactor pressure vessel lower head and closure head. ASN considers that this anomaly is not such as to compromise the commissioning of the reactor pressure vessel, provided that specific checks are carried out during operation of the installation. As the feasibility of these checks cannot at present be confirmed for the closure head, ASN considers that the current closure head cannot be used beyond 2024.

The French Nuclear Safety Authority is tasked, on behalf of the State, with regulating nuclear safety and radiation protection in order to protect workers, patients, the public and the environment from the risks involved in nuclear activities in France. It also contributes to informing the citizens.